Maximumbob
Fish Crazy
I think the the main difficulty in any medical question asked by Joe Public, is trying to convince people that anti-biotics are not the answer to everything. When they were introduced in the 60's the pharmacy companies advertised them as such and we are still paying the price.
The majority of people still think that antiobiotics works for the cold/flu. It is unsurprising that this mis-conception has passed into the fish world.
To give you an idea of whats happening in the world of antibiotics - here is a quote from a pharmacy conference(you may notice it is hinting at the parts of the world with no antibiotic regulation)
"...She (a director of a hospital pharmacy dept) went on to say that in some parts of the world bacteria had developed which were 100 per cent resistant not only to penicillin, but also to erythromycin, cephalexin, methicillin and, indeed, every other antibiotic which she could name except one â۠vancomycin. Even this last bastion was not infallible, and over the past 10 years strains of multiresistant Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) had appeared." ...."Of all antimicrobials used, 50 per cent was in humans and 50 per cent was in animals, but only 20 per cent of the usage in animals was by prescription."
Please do not misunderstand me when I post this... this is in no way a personal attack. I just wish to educate those reading this thread.
The above quote highligts the problem of antibiotic usage in animals without prescription (80%) worldwide.
The important thing to remember that whilst a lot of infections in animals dont transfer over to humans, numerous bacteria can. Another thing to note is that the conference, from which this quote was taken, was held 8 years ago. Since then VRE or vancomycin resistant enterocooci (TB) is becoming increasingly prevelent.
Hopefully I have made some people stop and think before they pop loads of antibiotics in the fish tank.
Max
the fll conference summary is availible at http
/www.pjonline.com/Editorial/19990918...ntibiotics.html but is quite a boring read 
The majority of people still think that antiobiotics works for the cold/flu. It is unsurprising that this mis-conception has passed into the fish world.
To give you an idea of whats happening in the world of antibiotics - here is a quote from a pharmacy conference(you may notice it is hinting at the parts of the world with no antibiotic regulation)
"...She (a director of a hospital pharmacy dept) went on to say that in some parts of the world bacteria had developed which were 100 per cent resistant not only to penicillin, but also to erythromycin, cephalexin, methicillin and, indeed, every other antibiotic which she could name except one â۠vancomycin. Even this last bastion was not infallible, and over the past 10 years strains of multiresistant Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) had appeared." ...."Of all antimicrobials used, 50 per cent was in humans and 50 per cent was in animals, but only 20 per cent of the usage in animals was by prescription."
Please do not misunderstand me when I post this... this is in no way a personal attack. I just wish to educate those reading this thread.
The above quote highligts the problem of antibiotic usage in animals without prescription (80%) worldwide.
The important thing to remember that whilst a lot of infections in animals dont transfer over to humans, numerous bacteria can. Another thing to note is that the conference, from which this quote was taken, was held 8 years ago. Since then VRE or vancomycin resistant enterocooci (TB) is becoming increasingly prevelent.
Hopefully I have made some people stop and think before they pop loads of antibiotics in the fish tank.
Max
the fll conference summary is availible at http
/www.pjonline.com/Editorial/19990918...ntibiotics.html but is quite a boring read 
